Like Advent, Lent is a season of preparation—in this case, for Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice and the glory of His resurrection. We prepare our souls through repentance and our bodies through fasting. We prepare our relationship with God through prayer and our relationship with others through almsgiving. In today’s readings, amid all our preparation, we are given two dramatic scenes. First, God seals the covenant with Abram by appearing as smoke and fire and passing between the animals Abram had sacrificed as a sign of his covenant with God. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is transfigured in glory, his face and clothing changing in appearance and dazzling the three apostles who witnessed it. Adding to the drama, God the Father speaks from the cloud that envelops them all, saying, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
In the person of Jesus, God becomes vulnerable, ultimately sacrificing his life on the cross for our sins. But God also became vulnerable many centuries before, in the presence of Abram. The ritual we hear described in the first reading, featuring two parties walking between the carcasses of animals that had been sacrificed, split in half, and placed opposite each other, which was often used in ancient cultures from this era to ratify a significant covenant. The tradition symbolized the seriousness of the covenant: if one party broke their promise, they would meet the same fate as these animals. Note that though Abram constructs the passage, he does not walk through it. Only God passes through it. Only God is bound by the covenant. Only by God’s grace can Abram and his descendants keep the covenant. This also applies to us. It is only by God’s grace that we can accomplish the three pillars of lent. i.e., fasting, almsgiving and prayer
Luke on the other hand uses the word exodus to describe what Jesus would accomplish in Jerusalem, recalling the Chosen People’s flight from Egypt, for which the book of Exodus is named. As Moses and the Chosen People’s exodus from captivity led them to the promised land, Jesus’ exodus from his life here on earth led him to life in heaven with his Father. Now we can make this exodus as well, in one sense, from sin and worldly values, and in another sense, when our life here on earth ends. The promise of salvation and new life anchors our ultimate hope in eternal life with the source of all life.
Question of the Week
Looking at my Lenten journey, as an exodus from sin and worldly values, what specifically is holding me captive and preventing a truly new life in the risen Lord?